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A Well Rounded Workout Routine

Health Clubs and Fitness Centres

A Well Rounded Workout RoutineBy Ken Bendor

Exercise means different activities for different people. Some think it's about running as far as you can while others think it's about how well you can make a basket. Maybe you're into lifting weights or doing yoga. Whatever your favorite form of exercise is, you need to incorporate a wide range of activities. More specifically, you need to include elements of flexibility, cardio and strength training into your routine.

When most people start a workout routine, they only think about their immediate goals. If they're looking to gain weight, strength training is the way to go. For weight loss, cardio is the only exercise they'll do. Taking this sort of attitude will cause you to miss out on other important areas of fitness that are ignored.

Flexibility is one of the most overlooked areas of fitness. Most people don't stretch, and as a result are prone to more injuries and decreased performance. The reason why most people skip stretching is because it won't directly help with weight loss or weight gain. So why even bother? Flexibility can make your muscles more elastic which will reduce injuries and increase performance. So while it won't help you burn calories, it will assist and help make exercising easier on your body.

Cardiovascular exercise isn't only for people who are trying to lose weight. Cardio has many advantages and benefits outside of burning a large amount of calories. It mainly improves the health of your cardiovascular system and can decrease blood pressure and cholesterol levels. These two health benefits are nice even if you're trying to build muscle.

Strength training is often ignored by those trying to lose weight because it doesn'tburn as many calories as cardio does. Strength training increases muscle mass which which can make your bones stronger and speed up your metabolism. A quicker metabolism means that your body will burn more calories throughout the day further aiding in weight loss.

Each area of fitness will bring with it not only benefits, however also new experiences. Group exercise classes can be used to improve your flexibility while taking a run outside or playing your favorite sport with some friends can give you all the advantages cardio has to offer. Strength training can be done at your own home with body weight exercises or at a fully equipped gym with machines and free weights.

Engaging in a wide variety or diversity of exercises will assist and help you keep your routine from getting stale. By preventing yourself from getting bored of your workout plan, you're much more likely to stay active without quitting.

For more information and details on starting a routine, visit the Advanced Guide to Exercise. Having trouble creating a well rounded exercise plan? Get a free personalized workout routine.

Straight Health was started in July 2006 to spread accurate and easy to understand information and details about health, diets, exercise and nutrition. At StraightHealth.com you can read articles and tips, use the tools and gain a further understand about the world of health.

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Strength Training and Weight Loss

Health Clubs and Fitness Centres

Strength Training and Weight LossBy Ken Bendor

When most people think about exercise and losing weight, they automatically picture running, biking or swimming - a high intensity workout that burns a large amount of calories. They focus all their effort on cardio and completely ignore any of the advantages a strength training routine has to offer. They think more muscles = more weight, however this couldn't be further from what actually happens with a strength training routine.

The reason that most people don't want to put on muscle is because they are afraid of weight gain. Since muscle is more dense than fat, an area that was once taken up by fat or adipose tissue will weigh more if you replace it with muscle. However, replacing fat or adipose tissue with muscle isn't a simultaneous process.

You can lose about 2 pounds of fat or adipose tissue per week through diet and exercise. That means you'll lose 8 pounds per month and 96 pounds per year. Muscle cannot grow at that pace. You'll be lucky if you can put on 10 pounds of muscle in an entire year, and that's if you're trying to gain weight by eating everything in your sight. Since you're on a calorie restricted diet, there's no way to gain enough muscle to offset the amount of fat or adipose tissue you can lose.

The biggest benefit of strength training is that it allows you to keep muscle mass while losing weight. When you're on a weight loss plan, an unintended side affect is that you'll lose muscle. Why is it so important that you keep what muscle you have? Muscle, unlike fat, is metabolically active.

When you're sitting around watching TV or on the computer, fat or adipose tissue tissue burns an insignificant amount of energy. Muscle tissue burns energy even when you aren't moving. This results in a speedier metabolism throughout the day which will assist and help you burn more calories and lose weight faster. If you sit backand let yourself lose a lot of muscle, your metabolism (how fast your body burns calories) will slow down which will affect how quickly you can lose weight.

When you're trying to lose weight, you need to combine cardio with strength training. Cardio will work to burn your body fat or adipose tissue stores giving you a slimmer look while strength training will assist and help build some muscle which will give you a toned look. If you only do cardio, you'll get skinny however you won't really have an athletic body. If you only do strength training, you might never get rid of the layer of fat or adipose tissue that is covering your muscles. You can't have one without the other.

A well balanced exercise routine combines aspects of both cardio and strength training. You don't have to do them both everyday - cardio can be done 3-5 times per week while strength training can be done as small as 2-3 times per week for beginners. As you can see, you'll be doing a different workout everyday which will keep you from getting bored and get you more excited about working out.

For more information and details about cardio and strength training plans, visit the Advanced Guide to Exercise. Having trouble creating a good exercise plan? Get a free personalized workout routine.

Straight Health was started in July 2006 to spread accurate and easy to understand information and details about health, diets, exercise and nutrition. At StraightHealth.com you can read articles and tips, use the tools and gain a further understand about the world of health.

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Getting Into Shape For Beginners

Health Clubs and Fitness Centres

Getting Into Shape For BeginnersBy Ken Bendor

So you have a sedentary lifestyle however want to become more active in order to look better, feel great and be healthy. Unfortunately, becoming fit isn't an easy task to complete after being inactive for a number of years. Soon after starting you'll get sore, tired and may even want to quit. So what's the greatest way a beginner can get active? The answer is slowly. Making small, gradual changes will allow for a better adjustment to your new lifestyle and make it less likely that you'll even think about going back to your old ways.

Exercise can be split up into different categories: flexibility, strength and cardiovascular routines. You should be engaged in each one of these to have a well rounded workout plan however any exercise is better than none at all. Flexibility will not directly lead to weight loss or muscle gain however will allow you to perform better and reduce your risk of injuries. Cardiovascular workouts will allow you to burn calories which helps in weight loss. There are also many health benefits to cardio including a decreased risk of heart disease. Even if you're trying to gain weight, cardio is a good idea.

Strength training will assist and help you build muscle. A lot of people who are trying to lose weight skip this final step because they're afraid of gaining weight. The amount of muscle you can build is no where near the amount of fat or adipose tissue you can lose in a given time. Building muscle allows you to increase your metabolic rate which means you'll burn more calories throughout the day further aiding in your weight loss goal.

Flexibility can be done 3-5 times per week or whenever you exercise. It isn't hard and should take no longer than 10 minutes. Start by lightly warming for 5 minutes with a walk or jog. You shouldn't stretch cold muscles since they'll be stiff . Pick 1 stretch for each major muscle group (quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, abs). Take each stretch to a point of slight discomfort however never farther and hold it for 20-30 seconds. You can do each stretch twice.

Cardio should be done 3-5 times per week for 30-60 minutes per day. If you're a beginner, you don't want to start your first week by running 4 miles each day, 5 times per week. By the end of your first workout, if you even finish it, you'll be dead tired, sore and unable to move. You need to start off slowly. Start your first week by going under the recommendation: 2 times per week for 15-20 minutes per day. Don't do something that's too rigorous. You can walk or jog. The next week, either increase the number of days to 3 per week or increase the amount of time to 20-30 minutes per day while staying at 2 sessions per week.